As the 2024 presidential election nears, the political strain is shared between students and faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Our campus’s atmosphere is expected to change, and as the election inches closer, students share their perspectives.
“Election year provides students with a window into what an election really looks like,” said Alisa Von Hagel, professor of political science at UW-Superior. Von Hagel explained the uniqueness of Superior’s political climate, saying, “It’s a swing state, so there’s a lot of attention given to Wisconsin. It’s becoming tighter, more evenly divided amongst Democrats and Republicans.”
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Students are prime examples of that political climate. “I’ve noticed that a lot of people don’t want to talk to each other,” said Timber Latvala, a sophomore at UWS. Latvala has observed heightened tension among her peers this semester regarding political conversations, noting their hesitancy to have civil discussions.
Election years present new territory for student organizations, too. Isaac Hopke, president of UWS’ chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, shared his perspective. “As [the election] approaches, we definitely ramp up our voice a little bit with what our beliefs are,” Hopke said. “We don’t support the values that we hold, which is conservatism and traditionalism. But we don’t force it on anybody.”
Latvala expressed concern over political polarization. “I feel like a lot of people don’t know that most people are moderates,” she said. “They may lean more conservative or progressive, but it’s really in the news where we see the extremists. They automatically think of these extreme views they’ve heard. I think that causes tension, especially between college students.”
Von Hagel expressed a similar sentiment to Latvala’s about the media being misleading. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” she said. “People have concerns about truthfulness or lack of truthfulness.”
Personal stakes in the election vary from student to student. Latvala spoke of her feelings on different policies, explaining her priorities of social issues over economics. “If it means I have rights and my future kids have rights and my friends have rights, I’ll gladly take more expensive groceries,” Latvala said.
Hopke expressed his personal feelings, too. “My hope is that [the election] wouldn’t affect people, because the reality is that life is deeper than politics,” Hopke said. His vision of UWS post-election was optimistic. “I don’t think things will be too overly different at UWS just because of how small a campus we are,” Hopke said. He expressed his hope that students would continue to have meaningful discussions.
